This invention relates to integrated circuit device testing and, in particular embodiments, to testing MEMS devices having inertial (motion, acceleration, position) sensing capabilities.
Conventional IC test devices include a socket body and a lid. The socket body has a cavity or nest in which a device to be tested can placed for testing. The lid has a pressure block that urges the device against test connectors at the bottom of the cavity when the lid is engaged with the socket body. In a so-called “clamshell” configuration, the lid is hinged to the block. Clamps or clips may be employed to lock (engage) the lid with the block. A test procedure using such a conventional test socket entails many steps, some of them mechanically complex: a pick-and-place tool picks up an IC device and places it into the nest. The lid is placed over the socket body. The lid is engaged (locked) to the body. A testing cycle is carried out. The lid is disengaged (released) from the socket body. The lid is removed from the body. The pick-and-place tool removes the tested device from the cavity and sorts it according to whether it successfully qualified during the test cycle.
Testing inertial sensing capabilities of a MEMS device, for example, requires that the MEMS device be movable during the testing cycle. Test apparatus for such devices must accordingly be capable of being moved (tilted, shaken, rotated) while the device being tested is secured in the apparatus.
Costs associated with testing can constitute a considerable proportion (half or more, in some cases) of the cost of manufacture of qualified integrated circuit devices, and improving throughput in device testing sequences can significantly decrease testing costs.